This morning, The Athletic reported that the Cubs buying at the deadline. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer e sentially confirmed as much in a chat with reporters just before tonights matchup with the Brewers. Hoyer said the front office will approach the deadline with an eye toward to the future. Where we are right now, I would have to say that moves only for 2024 unle s things change over the next week we probably wont do a lot of moves that only help us for this year , Chicagos baseball ops leader said ( ). If moves help us for 2025 and beyond I think were exceptionally well positioned. While Hoyer left open the slight caveat that the situation could change this week, theres not much ambiguity in how he expects to handle the deadline. He spoke frankly about the teams poor position with regards to this season. We simply dug a hole with underperformance for two months. That doesnt affect how I view the organization or how I view things going forward but it certainly affects 2024 , Hoyer said. Its clear the Cubs arent going to pursue any impending free agents. Hoyer didnt term Chicagos approach as buying or selling. That leaves open the po sibility of trying to acquire MLB talent that is under team control beyond this season. While thats not unprecedented (the Reds acquisition of and the Mets deal for in 2019 are examples of teams acquiring controllable players at the deadline despite being out of contention), its not common. The Cubs would need to outbid teams that are motivated to land those players for both a potential playoff push this summer and future seasons. Chicagos farm system is regarded as one of the strongest in the league. That gives Hoyer and his staff the Kyrie Irving Jersey ammunition to make a deal for a controllable player of note, but the likelier outcome is that the Cubs will just move a few short-term veterans. Hoyer shot down any suggestion of a complete teardown, saying its not going to be an option so (theres) no point in going through the hypothetical . That makes it unlikely theyd deal core pieces who are under contract or team control beyond this season (e.g. , , , ). Prioritizing 2025 would ordinarily put a teams rentals on the table, but the Cubs dont have much to offer in that regard. , (whose deal contains a $2.5MM buyout on a $10MM mutual option) and recent minor league signee are the only true rentals. Hendricks is playing on a $16.5MM salary and has an earned run average pushing 7.00. While he has pitched better lately after a dismal start to the season, thered be minimal interest. The Cubs could try to pay down almost all of the contract to find a trade partner. Hendricks also has full no-trade rights after reaching 10 years of MLB service (at least the last five of which have been with his current team) earlier this season. Smyly has a 2.92 ERA acro s 37 innings in a long relief capacity. That solid run prevention isnt supported by mediocre strikeout and walk rates (21% and 10.2%, respectively). Between his $8.5MM salary and the aforementioned option buyout, theres likely to be limited interest in the veteran left-hander. has the ability to opt out of the final two years and $50MM on his contract. He has had a fine but unexceptional season, hitting .269/.331/.410 acro s 344 plate appearances. Thatd be a difficult contract to move even if Bellinger were healthy, and he went on the injured list a couple weeks ago with a broken finger. If the Cubs wanted to more or le s run things back in 2025, theyd be in for a very quiet deadline. Yet even if theyre not likely to move long-term core pieces, Chicago could entertain offers on role players who are controllable beyond this season. USA Todays Bob Nightengale reported that the Yankees and Red Sox were looking at starter , wholl make $18MM annually between 2025-26. Rogers reports that the Cubs have also gotten interest in third baseman/DH and relievers , and . Morel, 25, is under team control through 2028. Hell be a borderline candidate for the Super Two cutoff for early arbitration next offseason. The Cubs are certainly under no financial pre sure to move him, but its po sible theyre prepared to move on if another team views Morel as a regular. Morel is a good athlete with big power upside who has never found a defensive home. Chicago has unsucce sfully tried him in second base and throughout the outfield in previous seasons. Theyve given him 562 innings at third base this year, hoping his top-of-the-scale arm strength would work at the position. Defensive Runs Saved and Statcasts Outs Above Average have each given him very poor grades for his stint at the hot corner. This also hasnt been a great season for Morel at the plate. While he has 18 homers, hes hitting .202 with a .304 on-base mark. Its a step down from the .241/.311/.471 career slash line that Morel carried into the season. While thats clearly not ideal, it belies some intriguing developments from a proce s perspective. Morel has upped his walk rate by a couple points while dramatically slicing his strikeouts. After fanning in over 30% of his plate appearances for his first two seasons, hes striking out 23.8% of the time this year. An unsustainably low .221 average on balls in play has kept that from materializing into better results. Even if the Cubs expect Morels offensive performance to normalize with an uptick in his average on balls in play, the lack of a defensive fit makes him a difficult player to value. The Cubs could hope to turn third base over to last years first-round pick as soon as next season. They dont have much in the way of short-term alternatives. If the Cubs traded Morel, theyd probably rely on and to cover the position for the rest of the season. The Cubs should be open to offers on anyone in their bullpen. Neris has handled the ninth inning since went down with a forearm strain. The offseason signee has been shaky, walking 16.1% of opponents and blowing four saves in 17 attempts. Neris had a 1.71 ERA for the Astros last season, but thats up two runs this year thanks to his control woes. The 35-year-old righty is playing on a $9MM salary and has a matching option for next year. Thats currently a team option but would convert to a player option if Neris pitches in 24 more games. Given his inconsistency, the Cubs arent likely to want Neris back at that price point. Theyd presumably be happy to find a trade partner, but the potential for being saddled with a $9MM player option if Neris hits his vesting marker could make other teams wary. Theres le s risk with regards to Leiter and Miller. The former is striking out 34.4% of opponents with a 50.6% grounder rate acro s 34 innings. Hes playing on a $1.5MM salary and is under arbitration control through 2026. Miller, whom the Cubs acquired from Seattle in May, has broken out with a 2.04 ERA while striking out nearly 26% of opponents acro s 35 1/3 frames. Whether the Cubs get compelling enough offers to move anyone from that group remains to be seen. Theyre not entirely buried in the Wild Card standings, sitting 3.5 games back of the last playoff spot (currently held by the Mets). With four intervening teams to jump, the front office has decided theyre at best a long shot to make the postseason. How much theyre willing to reshape the roster with the 25 campaign in mind will be one of the bigger questions of the upcoming week. Buck Williams Jersey